‘I was afraid’ why mother and son feared eviction from DV shelter

An Adelaide woman says the way she was treated when she first landed in emergency accommodation led to feel worried about being immediately evicted from the shelter she went to “to heal”.

Alison Jones with her son Luke, 9 at their caravan in SA. Picture: Ben Clark

An Adelaide woman who is paying close to $550 a week to live in a caravan park says she was told by staff at a state government-run shelter she needed to leave immediately and find a private rental.

Alison Jones says when she first landed in the emergency accommodation she became “anxious” and “afraid” about being evicted because of the immediate pressure to move out.

Ms Jones said she became increasingly stressed about the situation as she knew she would be unable to afford a home in Adelaide’s incredibly tight rental market, fearing she and her young son would become homeless.

She told The Advertiser that she fled a “traumatic and abusive” situation with her son and found a bed at the shelter.

But she says workers there were less focused on helping with her mental health problems than they were on the “need” for her to quickly find a private rental.

“From the very first week (I was told) I needed to find somewhere else. I kept saying ‘I know, I’m trying. I’m applying for houses. I need time to recover from the trauma I’ve been through’.”

Ms Jones said that after multiple private rental rejections while living in the shelter, she checked on her SA Housing Trust application for public housing and was told she would have to wait 10 years for a house.

Alison Jones with her son Luke, 9 at their caravan in SA. Picture: Ben Clark

The Trust said it had no record of her ever having been told this.

“Each time I applied (for private rentals) there were up to 100 other applications and I couldn’t find anywhere,” said Ms Jones, who is now facing the prospect of being without a home after being forced to move into a place outside her price-range.

Her story is part of The Advertiser’s Be Their Champion campaign calling on the state government to ease the pain for people in emergency accommodation.

A dozen women have now come forward to say they have faced “overly onerous” requirements, including having to apply for up to 20 houses per week and attend four inspections, just to keep a roof over their heads.

Ms Jones said she felt pressured to leave the shelter and started to wonder if she was “going to be made homeless at any moment”.

Alison Jones with her son Luke, 9 at their caravan in SA. Picture: Ben Clark

She eventually settled on a caravan park. She felt it was out of her price range at around $1100 a fortnight for a van and powered site, given her fixed $1500 fortnightly income – but that she had little choice.

She is now worried about what will happen as the caravan park raises powered site fees from the current $612 a fortnight to $980 a fortnight in peak tourist season.

That plus the $560 van rental is more than her entire fortnightly income.

Ms Jones said she had limited options as she did not drive and has discovered that other caravan parks also raise their fees for the summer peak.

“It is inherently wrong of the government and the SA Housing Trust to allow this situation to continue for so many struggling families,” she said.

The shelter was contacted for comment.

Originally published as ‘I was afraid’ why mother and son feared eviction from DV shelter